


The Kids Are Alright

by yayalovesyou



Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-11-29 05:40:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18218945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yayalovesyou/pseuds/yayalovesyou
Summary: Kenneth Boland wasn’t blind. Young, yes. A little naive? Sure. But he’s not blind by any stretch.*Kenny and Rio have a discussion about his relationship with Beth.





	The Kids Are Alright

**Author's Note:**

> You guys seem to really like the idea of Rio interacting with Beth's kids so...voila!

Kenneth Boland wasn’t blind. Young, yes. A little naive? Sure. But he’s not blind by any stretch.

Despite his parents’ best efforts, he knew almost immediately that their separation was serious. They tried to downplay it, deflect, and straight up avoid whenever he posed questions.

Dean tried to make it seem cool, like living in a motel was an adventure. The pool, the vending machine, and the 24/7 cartoons were his focal points, and while they were fun the first time, Kenny wanted his dad to move back home. So he was pleasantly surprised when Dean did come back to the house, albeit, to his bedroom. Still, it was better than nothing.

But things didn’t get better. There were tense conversations with vague language when the kids were around, hushed tones in the middle of the night, and sometimes just full out arguments. Kenny knew his parents thought they were doing great at hiding from their kids, but they weren’t. And it got even worse after his dad was shot. Dean got more snippy over the littlest things, even going as far as to angrily throw and slam things. Beth got more quiet, more anxious. Kenny could sometimes hear her crying. In turn, he felt more stressed. Now he had to see a therapist.

So he wasn’t all that upset the second time his dad moved out and told the kids that they were officially divorcing. As much as he loved his dad, he was old enough to see that they didn’t need to live together anymore. It felt like he could breathe again without being crushed under the weight of their tension.

Rio showing up in their lives was unexpected. His first time meeting him was cool, with Rio introducing himself as Beth’s friend and then helping him with math homework. Kenny was skeptical because he had never seen Rio before and a man with an eagle tattoo on his neck would have never crossed his mind as a friend to Beth, but he dismissed it. Rio seemed nice and any man that could help him with math was good in his book.

Rio made himself more of a permanent fixture in the Boland household as the months passed. He was always there, whether it was early in the morning with a cup of tea in hand, or late at night when Beth thought all of the kids were sleeping. Kenny never knew what they talked about, they never discussed anything serious around him or his siblings, but he did notice that whatever they talked about made them laugh. Plus they touched. Like, a lot. Rio more so than Beth, his hands always on her shoulder, her back, her face, her hands. And they were always looking at each other weirdly, like the adults on the soap operas Beth watched in the morning. After a while, he just got used to it.

 

* * *

 

It was a quiet afternoon at the Boland house. Rio tried to stroll through the back door, but to his surprise, it was locked. Beth never locked that door, mostly for his convenience since he never came through the front like a regular person.

He took a step back and turned to his right where a potted succulent was resting. Lifting the pot, Rio swiped the spare key Beth kept there and let himself in. “Elizabeth? You home?”

 “Who’s there?”

Rio’s eyebrow arched in curiosity. That voice definitely wasn’t Beth’s, but he didn’t immediately recognize it. Following the voice, he ended up in the kitchen where he spotted Kenny.

Kenny looked up and visibly relaxed when he realized it was just Rio. “Oh, hi!”

“Hey little man,” Rio greeted. He was suddenly aware of how quiet the house was. “Where is everyone?”

“Danny, Jane, and Emma are with my dad,” Kenny explained. “He took them to the water park, but I have the flu so I couldn’t go.”

 Ahhh, Rio thought. That explained why he couldn’t recognize Kenny’s voice. The poor kid was stuffed up.

 “Where’s your mom?” Rio asked.

 “Grocery store. She’s going to make me some chicken noodle soup. I told her I was big enough to stay here by myself. I locked all the doors and windows.”

 “Smart kid. So it’s just you and me here.”

 “Yeah.”

 “How about I make you some tea,” Rio suggested. “Do you drink tea?”

Kenny shook his head. “No. Mom drinks coffee. I think mom only buys it because of you.”

 “You’re missing out. I drink a cup a day.”

 Rio maneuvered around the kitchen, finding the tea kettle. After he filled it up, he sat back down across from Kenny as he waited for the water to boil.

 “So, how’s school? You doing good in math?”

 Kenny nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, I got my grade all the way up! I have an A.”

 “There we go, I knew you could do it. What about your other subjects? You doing good in those too?”

“Yeah. I don’t like history though.”

“It’s an important subject.” The tea kettle started to make noise, so Rio got up to check on it. “Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.”

A few minutes later, Rio and Kenny were sitting across from each other at the kitchen island, quietly sipping their tea. It was a comfortably silent moment until Kenny opened his mouth again.

“Why do you have an eagle tattoo on your neck?”

Rio shrugged. “I wanted to look scary,” he said honestly. “Is it working?” 

“Yes.” 

“Good.“

“Do you have any other tattoos?” Kenny continued.

 “One on my right arm, two on my left. Why are you so interested, you wanna get one?”

 “Yeah, but my dad says tattoos are ugly. He says I won’t get a good job with one.”

 Rio rolled his eyes. Of course Car Man would have objections. “Well, I have a job, so that’s not true.”

 “But is it a good job?”

Rio pondered the question. He excelled in his legal and illegal businesses, so he nodded. “I‘m pretty rich, so yeah, I’d say so. But I’m also my own boss, so no one can tell me what to do.”

 “That’s cool. I wanna be my own boss some day.”

“Gotta stay in school. And graduate from college.”

“You sound like my mom,” Kenny said with a snort.

“Elizabeth’s a smart lady.”

 “Are you her boyfriend?”

Rio nearly choked on the hot liquid at the question. “You are...very straightforward.”

“Yes or no?”

Rio hadn’t been someone’s _boyfriend_ since he was 15. The word sounded so juvenile.

 “Why do you ask?”

“You’re here a lot. You’re always touching my mom and whispering in her ear and she turns bright red, which is kinda gross. It’s boyfriend, girlfriend stuff.”

Rio smirked. “How would you know? You have a girlfriend?”

“No, but my best friend, Steven does. His and his girlfriend are always holding hands at recess, and touching each other, and passing each other notes in class when our teacher isn’t looking. And I watch a lot of tv and movies.”

“Of course.”

“Do you have any pets?”

 “No. My son keeps asking for a puppy, but that’s more of a thing he’d have to do at his mom’s house.”

“How old is your son?”

“Marcus is six.”

“And how old are you?”

“Thirty-five.”

“What’s your name?”

“You know my name, it’s Rio.”

“What’s your last name?”

“Alvarez. Don’t tell anyone though, not too many people know that.”

“Do you have any cavities?”

“No.”

“What’s your favorite cereal?”

 “I haven’t eaten cereal since I was a teenager. I’m more of a omelette or breakfast burrito sort of guy.”

“What are your intentions with my mother?”

Rio could’ve laughed at the bravado this kid was displaying in his line of questioning. Kenny was bold like his mother. Rio respected it.

“Excuse me?”

Kenny took a sip of his tea. “My mom likes you. You make her laugh and smile. And that’s good because she didn’t smile around my dad. They were always arguing with each other and she used to cry. So you can’t do that to her.” 

Rio’s jaw clenched tightly. He hated to hear that Beth was so miserable with Dean. “I’d never hurt your mother or make her cry.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Good.” Kenny leaned back and observed Rio thoughtfully. “I like you.”

“I like you too, even though you ask a lot of questions.”

“I don’t like the tea, though.”

Rio chuckled. “You’re still young. Good taste is gradually acquired.”

 “You can be my mom’s boyfriend.”

Rio wasn’t necessarily fishing for acceptance, but he’d gladly welcome it. His lip curled up in a slight smile. “Thank you.”

They heard the front door open. “Kenny?” It was Beth. “Where are you, sweetie?”

“In the kitchen, mom!”

Beth entered the kitchen and was shocked to see Rio there. “Rio! What are you doing here?”

“Kenny and I were just having a nice gentlemen’s chat over tea,” Rio answered.

Beth placed her grocery bags down. “And that’s the reason you came over? To talk to my twelve year old?”

“Wanted to talk to you, but you weren’t here.”

Kenny rolled his eyes and hopped off of his stool. “I’ll be upstairs.”

Rio watched as Kenny headed upstairs. Once he knew the pre-teen was completely out of earshot, he turned back to Beth with a smirk. “Thought you were gonna be child free for the weekend.”

 “I was supposed to be, but Kenny got sick. I didn’t want the rest of the kids to miss out on a fun weekend with their dad, so he stayed with me. I meant to tell you but it slipped my mind.”

“It’s fine, mama. But he knows.”

 “Knows what?”

“About us.”

Beth nearly dropped the stalk of celery she was holding. “What? How on earth could he possibly know?”

“Kid’s way more astute and observant than he gets credit for. And we really aren’t as subtle as we think we are.” Rio walked to the other side of the counter and crowded Beth’s space. He could see her tense up. “Something about us always touching, always laughing.” He leaned closer, catching the shell of her ear between her teeth, which made a chill run down her spine. “He also noticed that I’m always whispering in your ear.”

“Rio! My son is upstairs!”

“So? He gave me permission to be your boyfriend.”

Beth gaped and turned bright red. “Did he really?”

“He did. He interrogated the shit out of me too.” Rio reached out and grabbed a strand of Beth’s hair. “He cares a lot about you, Elizabeth. I don’t know what happened in your marriage, and you don’t have to tell me, but he doesn’t want it to happen to you again.”

Beth’s heart nearly dropped at that. Did she really scar her son and expose him to how toxic her marriage truly was?

Rio could see the guilt etched across Beth’s face and he frowned. He bent down and kissed her softly. “Stop feeling guilty, sweetheart. You did your best.”

“My best obviously wasn’t good enough.”

“Yes it was,” Rio insisted.

Beth didn’t say anything. She just leaned forward and rested her head against Rio’s chest.

“Now,” Rio continued, “are you gonna invite me over for dinner, or what?”

“What?”

“Come on, invite your _boyfriend_ over for dinner.”

Beth playfully shoved his chest. “Stop it.”

“What? Kenny said I could be your boyfriend, I’m just going full throttle.”

Beth straightened up and looked Rio in the eyes. “You really want to do this? Go all in? Not just the casual sex?”

“Come on, you and I both know it was never just casual sex with us.” Rio grabbed her hand and pulled her into him again. “I’ve been all in since day one.”

A warm buzz spread across Beth and she smiled. “Me too. So we‘re doing this.” Rio hummed in agreement, his thumb rubbing soothing circles into the palm of her hand.

“I take it that was your way of saying ‘ _Yes, you can stay for dinner_ ’?”

“Fine. You’re helping me cook though.”

"That's not a problem, darlin'. I happen to be an excellent cook."


End file.
